1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to building construction, and more particularly, to an apparatus for fabricating structural panels for use in building houses and other structures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional building materials used for constructing buildings often use lumber for framing walls and providing structural support and drywall for forming surfaces including walls and ceilings. Not only has the availability and quality of lumber as a natural resource declined, the cost of the lumber has also increased dramatically. In contrast, however, gypsum which is used for constructing gypsum board, or drywall, remains plentiful. Despite inflation and the increased cost of other building materials, the cost of drywall has remained substantially unchanged for over 30 years.
Unlike lumber, drywall is fireproof, dimensionally stable, and not susceptible to damage from cellulose consuming insects such as termites or powder-post beetles. The core material of drywall is abundantly available gypsum. The surface of drywall is generally paper, often recycled paper, and may also be moisture resistant.
Advantageously, drywall is very strong under compression. Structural panels, beams, or other members may be fabricated and can be used for both structural and finishing surfaces in buildings. U.S. Pat. No. 3,665,662, issued May 30, 1972, to Timbrook et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,839, issued Feb. 27, 1996, to Sax et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,530, issued Jul. 3, 2001, to Price et al., the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference, disclose structural building panel systems and methods relating to drywall structural panels which utilize drywall as a material.
Fabrication equipment for known structural building panel systems is generally very large so that it may entirely enclose the typical 4 foot by 8 foot drywall sheets used for structural panel fabrication. Additionally, such fabrication equipment is generally complex, costly, heavy, and not easily transportable. For example, such equipment may require vacuum and temperature control systems for expanding and setting honeycomb paper used as core material in some structural panel systems.
What is needed is a lighter-weight, easily-transportable, low-cost apparatus for the fabrication of drywall structural panels at a building site.